[EL] Evenwel, voter equality and representation equality

[Rob Richie]

The Evenwel case certainly raises some uncomfortable realities about
clashes between representation equality and voter equality -- and the
misunderstanding that one-person, one-vote is about representation equality
(equality of constituent access to representation) rather than voter
equality (every vote has the same voting power).

This is not just a theoretical conversation and changes in the current
regime would have huge consequences that, absent other changes, would
exacerbate under-representation of racial minorities and shift partisan
political power. But as we debate this, I wanted to point out that we
actually could bridge the gap between representation equality and voter
equality if we truly wanted to do so.

It would not mean going down the errant path of seeking to have districts
have both population and eligible voter equality. That approach alone of
course doesn't factor in the impact of relative voter turnout and use of
winner-take-all elections compared to forms of proportional representation.
But if we could fully achieve it with this package of changes:

* Remove all restrictions on voter eligibility that current deny voting
rights based on age, citizenship and felony conviction / incarceration
status.
* Register everyone to vote.
* Establish mandatory voting.
* Take steps to ensure the ballot has a truly representative mix of
candidates.
* Have a system as Gordon Tullock proposed where: 1) several candidates are
elected to a legislature in a multi-winner districts; 2) voters rank
candidate in order of preference; 3) ranking candidate are dropped until
the number of candidate matching seats are left; 4) legislators in the
elected body cast weighted votes based on share of the vote they won in
their district.

I don't support all these changes for our elections, but it's wrong to say
that we couldn't achieve the goal if there were political will to do so.
And we could at least reduce the gap between representation equality and
voter equality with steps like:

* Voting rights for 16-year-olds, categories of immigrant Americans and
every citizen who is of voting age, all of which are done in Takoma Park
* Automatic voter registration as recently signed into law in California
and Oregon
* Reasonable ballot access laws as in place in many states (but certainly
not all)
* Multi-winner, proportional forms of ranked choice voting as used in a
couple American cities and historically in big ones like New York and
Cincinnati

Those would represent a moderate compromise between the status quo and the
full steps necessary to bridge the gap.

That's FairVote -- always the voice of moderation when it comes to
electoral reform!

Rob





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